DAVID WARNER, Yorkshire County Cricket correspondent for The Press, looks back over a 2006 season that Tykes fans would more want to chase away than cherish...

Yorkshire ended the season in sixth place in the First Division Championship table, the highest they had been all summer, but this gave an air of respectability to the campaign which they did not deserve.

Much of their time was spent fighting a tough battle to avoid relegation in the Championship, which remains the most important of all the competitions, while their performances in the one-day arena continued to be quite abysmal with little sign of any significant improvement.

It was all so disappointing after the New Year had dawned so brightly with Yorkshire purchasing Headingley to become ground owners for the first time in their history and then appointing go-ahead chief executive Stewart Regan for whom only the best will do.

Unfortunately, success off-the-field could not be converted into success on it, although Yorkshire still did just enough to stay in the Championship top-flight - but nowhere near sufficient to prevent finishing bottom of the NatWest Pro 40 League Second Division or to make any impact in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.

Had Yorkshire shown as much drive and determination earlier in the season as they did in the last few weeks then things may have been different, but for much of the time there were too many deficiencies to become a real fighting unit.

For a start, they were badly served by their openers. There were only two first-wicket stands above 40 all season to underline the seriousness of the situation.

Yorkshire had hoped Matthew Wood and Joe Sayers would make a prolific opening pair but they both suffered a desperate loss of form in the first half of the summer. Wood never managed to get over it, losing his senior berth.

Sayers, the former Oxford Blue, did begin to show more consistency and Craig White scored freely when he moved from number six to open the innings, but they could still not get Yorkshire off to the good starts which they craved.

On only two occasions did Yorkshire manage to make 400 in the first innings to gain maximum batting points and their batting, generally, would have been even more brittle had it not been for Darren Lehmann and Anthony McGrath who between them scored 2,999 of their side's 8,274 runs, including extras.

It had been expected that new Australian signing Jason Gillespie, South African Deon Kruis and Tim Bresnan, supported when England permitted by Matthew Hoggard, would give Yorkshire one of the sharpest attacks in county cricket, yet this never really materialised.

Gillespie could not be faulted for his whole-hearted effort but rarely did he look the Goliath who had slain so many England batsmen over the past decade. Perhaps general tiredness from round-the-year cricket at the highest level had taken its toll as evidenced by a haul of 36 Championship wickets, each costing him 33.61 runs.

Kruis, too, was not the bowler he had been the previous summer when he was the leading wicket-taker with 64 dismissals at 30.64 runs apiece. He again topped the list, but this time with only 38 wickets at 35.31.

Bresnan was his usual reliable self in the first half of the season and he joined England's ranks for the one-day series against Sri Lanka when they were soundly thrashed, but a lumbar stress fracture of the back then caused him to drop out of the first team until the final match.

Gerard Brophy had been signed from Northamptonshire in an attempt to strengthen the wicket-keeper-batsman role but he struggled to make runs and it was Simon Guy who looked much the sharper behind the stumps.

For all of their team's shortcomings, Yorkshire fans have taken away some marvellous memories of the 2006 season, not least being the sheer brilliance of Lehmann, who signed off at Headingley by rattling up 339 against Durham on his final appearance for his adopted county.

Just three more runs would have given him Yorkshire's highest ever score but he wasn't upset at seeing the record stay with the great all-rounder, George Hirst. "He was a better player than me," said Lehmann, in all modesty.

McGrath, almost matched Lehmann in output until the very last game and he thoroughly deserved his 1,293 runs at an average of 61.57. Lehmann believes McGrath should be on the forthcoming Ashes tour.

And then, of course, there are the magical leg-spin twins, Adil Rashid and Mark Lawson, who have brought a new dimension to county cricket as well as adding enchantment to the summer.

Never before have two leg-spinners bowled in tandem and they fed off each other, each one eager to outshine his partner for the good of the team. It was wonderful stuff to watch and, as retiring captain Craig White said, there may be no limits to what they can achieve.

Rashid's achievements were perhaps the greater because he was less experienced and starting from scratch, but Lawson also bowled with tremendous skill. There was little between them - Rashid capturing 25 wickets at 25.16 runs apiece in 180.2 overs and Lawson 26 wickets at 34.50 in 207 overs.

There is no Lehmann to look forward to next season, but if Rashid and Lawson continue to sparkle then Yorkshire should still be worth watching, whoever is appointed to lead them.